CWC England150Old Trafford, Manchester is the venue for Tuesday’s Cricket World Cup match between England and Afghanistan and it’s no surprise that England are overwhelming favourites.

 

 

 

England:

England cruised past West Indies with an 8 wicket win at Southampton on Friday and they now have an overall record of 3 wins and 1 defeat. They bowled West Indies out for 212 at the Rose Bowl with Archer and Wood taking 3 wickets a piece whilst Joe Root claimed 2.

Injury to Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan led to a shake up in England’s batting line up. Root opened the batting with Bairstow and the pair put on 95 for the first wicket. Bairstow fell for 45, Root went on to finish 100 not out, his second ton of the tournament, and Chris Woakes came in a 3 to add another 40. England boosted their net run rate by getting home in 33.1 overs but the injury news will be worth keeping an eye on this week.

Earlier results include a 104 run victory over the Proteas at the Oval, a 14 run defeat to Pakistan in Nottingham and a 106 run win over Bangladesh in Cardiff. England are currently 2/1 favourites to win the tournament.

Joe Root is leading run scorer for England with 279, Jason Roy has made 215 and Jos Buttler has 185. Jofra Archer is leading wicket taker with 9, Mark Wood has 7 and, Ben Stokes has 5.

This was how England lined up against West Indies last time out.

Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood

 

 

Afghanistan:

Afghanistan were in action against the Proteas in Cardiff on Saturday and they slipped to their heaviest defeat so far, going down by 9 wickets. Batting first Afghanistan were bowled out for just 125. There was a slight DLS adjustment for a couple of rain delays but the result was never in doubt and the Proteas wrapped the game up in 28.4 overs.

Earlier results saw Afghanistan lose to Australia by 7 wickets, Sri Lanka by 34 runs (DLS) and New Zealand by 7 wickets.

This was how Afghanistan lined up against South Africa.

Hazratullah Zazai, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib(c), Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Ali khil(w), Rashid Khan, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan

 

Head to Head

The teams have met just once before and that came in the 2015 World Cup in a pool stage match in Sydney. Although England had a shocking tournament they did win that rain affected game handsomely, restricting Afghanistan to 111/7 in 36.2 overs and chasing it down with ease in a 9 wicket victory.

 

The Betting, Click here for all markets

England 1/16

Afghanistan 10/1

Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

 

Verdict:

England may well make changes but Jonny Bairstow is likely to have a big role to play. It should be straight forward for the host nation and we go with Bairtsow Over 48.5 in the Player Performance market with 1 point awarded per run and 10 per catch.

 

Suggested Bets:

Player Performances, Bairstow Over 48.5 at 9/10

 

Click here for all CWC markets.

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